Persian Gulf Arab financial markets tumble

The Dubai Financial Market marked its biggest single-day loss in the past five years as it took an eight-percent-plus plunge on Tuesday.

Tuesday’s session closed at 7.3 percent with Emaar Properties, and construction giant, Arabtec, shedding the permitted maximum of 10 percent.

According to traders, Dubai’s stock exchange has been the most volatile among the seven Persian Gulf exchanges, possibly because it has the most exposure to international markets and investors.

Since late November, when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided to keep crude production rates unchanged, oil prices have dived leading to Dubai’s market loss of over 31 percent.

Abu Dhabi’s stock index and Saudi Arabia’s market have also suffered around a 19-percent drop over the plummeting oil prices.

Smaller markets such as Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain have also experienced slides of between five and 17 percent.

On Tuesday, crude oil prices also dropped to the lowest rates in five years with the US benchmark crude, West Texas Intermediate, at 54 dollars per barrel and North Sea Brent crude close to 59 dollars per barrel.

HK